Takeshi Okumura

Takeshi Okumura (奥村 健, Okumura Takeshi^?) (b. April 24, 1952 in Fukuoka, Japan) is a Japanese professional pool player.

Professional career

He started playing pool at 16 and turned professional ten years later.^[1]

Okumura won the WPA World Nine-ball Championship in 1994, defeating Yasunari Itsuzaki in an all Japanese final. With the win, he became the first Japanese and second Asian to win a world championship in pocket billiards. Until Nick Varner won the title in 1999, Okumura was the oldest champion.

Although he won the world nine-ball crown, Okumura wasn't quite successful in the sport for the next ten years. In 1995, he almost won the International Challenge of Champions but Chao Fong-pang of Taiwan bested him in the last match. He also was closing to winning the US Open Nine-ball Championship in 2000 but lost to Earl Strickland , 5-11, in the finals.^[2] He nearly had a shot for a second world title in 2002 but again was defeated by Earl Strickland in the semis.^[3]

After some less impressive past performances, Okumura showed dominance one last time, in 2005. He defeated Mika Immonen in the finals to win the All Japan Championship, a long-running tournament featuring players from Japan and the rest of the world.^[4]

Titles

• All Japan Championship (1979-1982, 1993, 1995 and 2005)
• Japan Open (1988, 1994, 1995, 1999)
• WPA World Nine-ball Championship (1994)

References

1. ^ Takeshi Okumura Profile (Japanese)
2. ^ "FIVE and ALIVE!". Billiards Digest. http://www.billiardsdigest.com/tournaments/archive/USopen2000/. Retrieved 2008-08-09. 
3. ^ "Lovefest For Strickland In Semis". Billiards Digest. http://www.billiardsdigest.com/tournaments/display_article.php?article_id=322&tournament_id=8. Retrieved 2008-08-09. 
4. ^ "Okumura wins his 7th title". Ralf Souquet. http://www.souquet.de/ev/index_ev1.htm. Retrieved 2008-08-08. 

Preceded by Chao Fong-pang

WPA Men's World Nine-ball Champion 1994

Succeeded by Oliver Ortmann

Persondata
Name	Okumura, Takeshi
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Date of birth	1952-04-24
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death